Stop Blaming the Moon for Your Crazy

Humans have believed in the power
of the moon for centuries, and often blame it for problems in love and
life. But new science reveals the moon has little to no effect on health
and happiness.

The end of this week—June 21—marks the summer solstice, a day that is good to do a lot of surprisingly specific things,
according to the Farmer’s Almanac. Whether it’s cutting your hair to
“retard its growth” or washing wooden floors, Sunday is the day, it
says, based on the moon’s astrological position.

The Almanac also
tells us it would be a good time to perform demolitions, if you had any
of those planned. But these are just suggestions, after all. Beliefs
based on the moon’s influence our lives and behavior has been examined
from many angles over time, the most obvious example being the etymology
of the word “lunacy.”

Meanwhile, cases of lycanthropy—or the belief that the full moon transforms one into a werewolf—were documented as late as the 1970s. And, earlier this year, a team of researchers at the Queen’s University in Canada sought to explore whether psychiatric episodes and emergency department admissions were in any way related to lunar cycles—and they were far from the first ones to do so.
The Queen’s University researchers, led by Varinder Parmar, wrote that
the belief in lunar impact might be “a cultural artifact, left over from
the time before artificial lighting.”

“The full moon provided an
increase in the amount of nighttime illumination and caused a
significant sleep disturbance as a result,” wrote Parmar et al in their
study. “Recent research has shown that sleep disruptions of as little as
1.5 hours from baseline can induce mania and seizures in vulnerable
people.”

But even that question—whether a full moon causes sleep
disturbance at all is a recurring one—said Martin Dresler, a
neuroscientist and sleep researcher at the Max Planck Institute of
Psychiatry in Germany. Dresler and his colleagues have all been asked
“the sleep question” at some point or another—or more precisely, why the
full moon “makes” one sleep badly.

More than 2,000 nights and 1,265 slumbering volunteers later, Dresler and his colleagues announced their answer Monday: it doesn’t. Instead, Dresler attributes the belief to selective memory.

“You
only remember the times you woke up and saw the full moon, and forget
all the times you woke up and you didn’t see the full moon,” Dresler
told The Daily Beast. “That’s really the best explanation for the notion the moon influences sleep.”

Beliefs
based on the moon’s influence our lives and behavior has been examined
from many angles over time, the most obvious example being the etymology
of the word “lunacy.”

He said the
other explanation was the “file-drawer” phenomenon in research: the
tendency of researchers not to bother with publishing negative or
inconclusive findings, leaving data to gather dust in the…well, file
drawer.

And there are others, like Glenn Wilson, a visiting
professor of psychology at Gresham College in the United Kingdom, who
also keep up with research on whether the moon influences
behavior. Several years ago, he was even contracted by tequila
manufacturer Jose Cuervo to do a scientific review of literature
relating to moon and behavior as Cuervo was promoting full moon parties
in Thailand.

“One thing seems to be the observation of the moon’s influence on our tides,” he said in a lecture
at Gresham College in March. “Since humans are 80 percent water, people
say, then the water in our brain must be similarly affected.” But as he
points out, the moon’s effect on our body water is minimal and the new
moon has exactly the same gravity as the full moon.

Despite the
evidence, there is a tendency for many people to believe in the moon’s
impact; the reasons for which vary, experts say.

For those 4
million who read the Farmer’s Almanac daily—some of whom take it very
seriously—it is to do with a mixture of tradition (the publication has
existed since the 1800s) and good experience with following its advice,
said Sandi Duncan, the managing editor of the almanac. But bigger
decisions that used to be made based on where the moon is positioned
aren’t made anymore.

“People would actually have surgery based on
where the moon was, as the moon’s astrological position supposedly
correlated with a certain part of the body,” said Duncan. “I don’t
remember if it was that you were supposed to have surgery say, on your
feet, when the moon was in the position corresponding to feet, or
whether that was when you weren’t supposed to.”

Still, she added,
“we [Farmer’s Almanac] don’t offer this information anymore, you should
have feet surgery when your doctor says you should have feet surgery.”

But unless one is rushing to the nearest pharmacy to stock up on
massive amounts of Ambien to prepare for a full moon, or really using
its position to determine when to get foot surgery, Duncan argued that
like with horoscopes, believing in the moon’s influence—taken with a
grain of salt—can’t really hurt.

“If you want to give a chance, maybe it will work for you, maybe not,” said Duncan. “But there’s no harm.”

However,
Gresham College’s Wilson is not so sure. In his lecture he cited
astrologer Joan Quigley’s influence on former President Ronald Reagan at
a time where “he had his finger on the nuclear button.”

Still,
for those who feel less like pinning world affairs on lunar and
planetary movements, they can start smaller and seek cosmic help for
their to-do lists. The fishing calendar, for example, warns us that this
Sunday is a “poor day,” meaning “fish will either steal all your bait
or will not even touch your line.” So maybe consider bowling instead, or
take your chances. In the end, there’s only choice and circumstance.

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